Inflated Administrators

Some parents in neighboring Evanston are incensed that they are being asked to pay new activity fees to restore program cuts, while administrators have for years have been indulged by the school board with double digit raises. That is one issue. The other is that the heftiest raises most often occur right before administrators retire. Both are the norm around here, sad to say. And the dirty little secret is that taxpayers all across the state, in much less well-heeled districts have been footing the bill for these inflated pensions, at least for the next year or so. Tribune:

One administrator, the director of the adult education program, retired in 2004 with a $180,500 salary. Only three years earlier that director's salary was $111,754, almost a $70,000 difference.

Officials maintain that the end-of-career raises are necessary to attract top job candidates.

"It's critical to have administrators getting salaries that are commensurate with other school districts," Friedman said.

Goltermann said the practice has helped cripple the state pension plan, an already underfunded system that pays out more money than it brings in, and state lawmakers have attempted to put a stop to it. A law that took effect in June 2005 forces school districts to pay part of the pension for any employee given more than a 6 percent annual raise.

"I do not see the school board being able to afford that at all," said William Stafford, chief financial officer for District 202.

But Evanston has until 2008 to curtail the practice because existing contracts, like the one governing its teachers, were grandfathered in under the law.

Yet another reason for school choice. Students do not come first in the public schools, whether in the city or the suburbs. Maybe even liberal Evanston is starting to get the message.